A follow-up of some north-east London trainees

General practitioner trainees from the period 1963-80 were followed up with a postal questionnaire, yielding a 62 per cent response rate. Questions were asked about their training and their current posts. Of the ex-trainees, 62 per cent were graduates from overseas medical schools, 92 per cent were now general practitioner principals in the United Kingdom and 25 per cent had experienced difficulty in finding a practice. Trainees from a three-year vocational training scheme (VTS), predominantly from UK medical schools, scored higher on an Index of Attainment than those not from a VTS. Sixty-three per cent of trainees had settled within 10 miles of training area. Only 27 per cent of trainees now worked in a health centre, compared with 61 per cent of trainers. Comments on the training programme suggested financial matters were inadequately dealt with. Twelve per cent would have preferred a longer period in the training practice and 18 per cent made negative comments about their training.